Tag Archives: early-years

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children.

The National Academies Press in Washington publish more than 200 textbooks a year on a wide range of topics including Children, Youth and Families. This 2015 book edited by LaRue Allen and Bridget B. Kelly explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. It examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems.

The 700-pages book is illustrated with up-to-date colour and black-and-white diagrams and is divided into five parts:

I: Introduction and Context
II: The Science of Child Development and Early Learning
III: Implications of the Science for Early Care and Education
IV: Developing the Care and Education Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8
V: Blueprint for Action

Part II: The Science of Child Development and Early Learning, is practically a book-within-a-book at 160 pages long, and is an interesting and informative read for all members of the young children’s workforce.

We are fortunate to be able to download the PDF version of this title for free; the hard-cover version costs $75. To download a free PDF of Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8, go to:

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/19401/transforming-the-workforce-for-children-birth-through-age-8-a

Next click Download Free PDF, then Download as Guest, where you just need to enter an email address to download any of NAP’s titles. This one is an 11MB download, or you can download chapters individually.

A short 16-pages booklet is also available as a companion to the full book. Professional Learning for the Care and Education Workforce (2015) summarizes considerations from the report for planning and implementing high-quality and coherent professional learning for this workforce.
You can download a free PDF of the booklet at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/21786/professional-learning-for-the-care-and-education-workforce